Surprise at Kellynch Hall
by EightYearsandaHalf
Summary: A surprise meeting at Kellynch Hall in October 1814 accelerates our story to its happy conclusion. 3 short chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_October 1814, Somersetshire_

It was a fine October morning as Anne Elliot slowly walked from Uppercross Cottage to Kellynch Hall. The evening before, she had dined at Uppercross with Captain Wentworth for the first time since his arrival. She recollected the difference between his cold politeness towards her and his warm acceptance of the Miss Musgroves' eager admiration. Once they had been so much to each other, now nothing. She felt tears filling her eyes.

After dinner, Anne had asked Mrs. Croft if she could come to Kellynch Hall and collect a small locked box from her former bedchamber. Anne had previously decided against bringing this box to Uppercross Cottage, where her inquisitive and troublesome nephews might discover it and attempt to open it or hide it. But ever since learning that Captain Wentworth would be at Kellynch Hall, she had been most anxious to retrieve this particular possession. Mrs. Croft had told her to come by in the morning, as nobody but the servants would be home.

Anne knocked on the front door and a servant let her in. She proceeded quietly up the stairs, unaware that sitting in the library at that same moment was Captain Wentworth, who had decided at the last moment not to go out for a walk. He was distracted by his own thoughts and had not noticed her arrival.

Anne walked down the hall, turned into her bedchamber and was immediately struck. She saw Captain Wentworth's belongings placed neatly around the room. She had not considered the possibility that her chamber would be in use. Admiral and Mrs. Croft would have taken Sir Walter's, of course. She had thought Captain Wentworth would be in Elizabeth's, for it was the largest and most finely furnished of the remaining family chambers. She wondered if he knew whose room he had taken, before quickly deciding he could not; if he had any idea, surely he would have avoided the room as much as he avoided its former occupant.

The smell of him in such a place overpowered her. For a few minutes she saw nothing before her; it was all confusion. When she had scolded back her senses, she went to closet, found the box, and unlocked it to confirm the contents. She gently touched the small stack of letters inside and gazed at the other treasures, remembering precisely when each one was collected.

Her brief reverie was interrupted when she heard steps coming down the hall, a something of familiar sound. She closed the box quickly - no time to lock it again - and hurried out of the room, hoping to escape, but she was too late. She stepped out of the room and collided into a very surprised Captain Wentworth.


	2. Chapter 2

Captain Wentworth was more obviously struck and confused, first by the sight of Anne leaving his room, then by the sensation of her body, however briefly, touching his. For her part, the shock caused her to drop the box, and its contents tumbled onto the floor. Anne felt her face colour instantly.

"I beg your pardon," he said. "I did not realise -"

"No, no, I am sorry."

Anne could not speak further; she was overcome with agitation as she collected her things.

Her mortification deepened as Captain Wentworth knelt down to help her. Why must he choose this moment to be gallant to her? He reached over to pick up a folded paper and stopped. He immediately recognised the handwriting - it was his own, one of the few letters he had sent to her during their short engagement. But she had told him she burnt them all…?

He looked around at the other items. More of his letters, dried wildflowers they had collected, a small book of poems he had given to her. He placed the items in the box and fixed his enquiring eyes on Anne, who refused to meet his gaze. She was quite ready to sink under the mortification of the moment.

Finally, it was done. She rose in haste, the haste of embarrassment and of wanting to get away - "I am much obliged, Captain Wentworth," she whispered. With averted eyes, she proceeded down the stairs and was out the door before the servant could open it for her.


	3. Chapter 3

Anne hurried over to a bench in the garden to better arrange her feelings. She did not doubt that Captain Wentworth had recognised the contents of the box. What must he think of her, holding on to mementos of the past, unable to move on as he had? He must despise her weakness.

She was startled to hear those familiar steps again, each one bringing her fresh agitation. Why had he followed her? She stood up and walked in the opposite direction of the house.

"Miss Elliot!"

She continued forward, quickening her pace. She could not bear to see the look of contempt that was surely on his face.

"Miss Elliot!"

And then after a moment - "Anne!"

She stopped, quite struck by the sound of his voice addressing her by her Christian name alone. She had not heard it in almost eight years, except in distant memories and tormented dreams.

She felt the need to respond. She turned around slowly, and looking not exactly at him, she said, "Please accept my apologies for the intrusion, Captain Wentworth. Mrs. Croft had given me permission to retrieve my belongings, and she assured me that no one would be home this morning. If I had known -"

"You kept my letters," he said.

Anne paused, surprised by the sudden turn in conversation. She felt her cheeks reddening further and fixed her eyes on the ground. She was desperate to get away, and yet he seemed unwilling to let her go.

"I beg your pardon, Captain, I must take leave. Your indifference towards me is perfectly clear."

She saw him start at this, but he said nothing, and she continued:

"Had you wished ever to speak to me again, you need not have waited till this time." Her voice faltered, and she regretted saying so much.

"You are right," he said, with a gentleness that she had not expected. "I too have been thinking over the past. Perhaps there has not been one person more my enemy than my own self. I was angry and resentful. I shut my eyes, and would not understand you, or do you justice. I meant to forget you, and believed it to be done."

Anne was suddenly struck by an idea which made her anxious to be encouraging. She looked at him in earnest. "There is much that I regret. I should not have been guided - misguided - by others. I think very differently from what I was made to think at nineteen."

He drew a little nearer to her, with an expression which had something more than penetration in it, something softer. Her countenance did not discourage. It was a silent, but a very powerful dialogue; on his side, supplication, on her's acceptance.

Still a little nearer, he said, "My affections and wishes from eight years ago are unchanged. Is it possible that you might retain the precious feelings of the past, as I do?"

He had said it. She trembled as she replied, "My heart has always - and will always - belong to you."

An expression of joy, gratitude and heartfelt delight diffused over his face. "Anne, my own, dear Anne! I have loved none but you."

Somersetshire could scarcely contain any other two beings at once so rationally and so rapturously happy as during that morning occupied the grounds of Kellynch Hall. All suspense and heartache were over. They were re-united at last.


End file.
